We are twin brothers currently attending Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, launching this “Dark Tourism” project to make people aware of the “dark history” behind popular tourist attractions or even places nearby their homes. 

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      We often spend our school breaks in South Korea with our parents and have often traveled around Korea and neighboring countries in Asia. Most recently, our family travelled to Jeju Island in Korea, visiting a site called Alddreu. Alldreu literally means under a field and is known for not only its very beautiful scenery, but also its tragic history. During the Japanese colonial rule in Korea, the Japanese forced the local people of Jeju Island to build aviation sheds and airstrips, exploiting the labor and resources of Jeju Island, resulting in countless casualties. Even now, there are out of place concrete sculptures and runways, remnants from the colonial period. After learning about its sad history, we discussed how we could share this information with the general public and decided to create this site on Dark Tourism.

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      After witnessing this site in Jeju Island, we decided to search for other similar tourist locations with dark histories. We first mainly investigated sites in Korea, but expanded the scope of our research. During our research, we found that throughout the world, especially in Asia, there are many tourist attractions ridden with tragic history, as Asia in particular has gone through numerous clashes of wars and colonization. Many people visit these tourist attractions in Asia without knowing the full histories of these countries and their people. Therefore, we are determined to write about these kinds of places so people can know the full dark history behind these sites. We will cover dark history sites of Asia, and will continue to expand our research into other parts of the world.

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      Our main reason for publicizing dark tourism is to honor the hidden history of assailants and victims, which is often vague and unpublicized. Even though assailants and their descendants may try to atone for their crimes, the complete truth is not always shared. Moreover, addressing dark history can grow into a political and national issue, so people usually do not investigate dark history deeply. However, if we do not address past traumatic history, it will be permanently forgotten. We need to recognize that the history we are currently being taught is a skewed, censored version of the real and cruel history, so we must properly learn the value of such tragic histories, rightfully commemorate the victims, and, ultimately, prevent from repeating dark history.

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